Cultivating Respect and Trust: The Inclusive Coexistence Between Peranakan Indians and Chinese in Malaysia

Exploring the Organization, Living Space, and Religion

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between Peranakan Indians and Chinese living in Malaysia, clarifying how they have built a unique community while fostering harmonious relationships with different ethnic groups. India is the world’s largest emigrant country with many naturalising in Malaysia. This study focuses on Peranakan Indians who have been indigenised through intermarriage. They form a distinct community amid three major ethnic groups. Studies on Malaysian society based on nationally designated ethnic categories have often marginalised mixed-ethnicity individuals and exacerbated social divisions. This study examines the relationship between Peranakan Indians and Chinese by focusing on the committee, living space, and religion.  The Peranakan Indian committee consisted of Chinese with kinship ties while fostering mutual understanding through daily interaction with Chinese outside their kinship, cooperating in religious festivals, and building a sense of unity. Through this process, they have nurtured respect, trust, and an inclusive, harmonious coexistence, flexibly embracing and incorporating each other’s differences while mutually benefiting from their relationship. This study relativizes essentialist discussions on Malaysia’s three major ethnic groups and presents a case demonstrating ethnogenesis and the dynamic plasticity of ethnicity. It contributes to theories of ethnicity and national integration while offering insights into improving interethnic relations worldwide.